Matt Kenseth finishes 32nd at Pocono

LONG POND, PA (June 12, 2005) — A familiar tune plays again for Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 DEWALT Ford Taurus as late tire problems effectively finish the day for Kenseth and the DEWALT team. Kenseth qualified in and ran in the top-ten to begin the day at the Pocono Raceway, but started to fall back through the field with handling problems, only to be taken out of contention by first gambling with a green flag pit stop and then suffering a flat tire.

Kenseth began the weekend with a strong qualifying run, posting the 10th quickest lap by getting around the 2.5-mile tri-oval racetrack in 55.552 seconds. Kenseth gained several spots early in the Pocono 500, making his way from his starting position of tenth to sixth-place in the first two laps. Kenseth would take up residence in the sixth position, continuing to run there when the first caution of the afternoon slowed the field on lap 28. Kenseth found it impossible to pass in the early-going of the 200-lap/500-mile event and reported to his crew that the No. 17 DEWALT Ford was getting a little bit tight running behind the top-five for so long.

Kenseth took advantage of the first caution period and came down pit road for wedge and air pressure adjustments and four fresh tires. The No. 17 restarted the race in sixth-place and continued to be tight. Kenseth advised his crew that the car needed to be turning off the right front better, and came down pit road again for service during the second caution period brought out on lap 43. Kenseth, running eighth, received additional wedge and air pressure adjustments and four new tires, and returned to the field in the 14th position.

By the next caution period on lap 67, Kenseth had moved into the tenth position, but was still concerned that the No. 17 was a little too tight. Kenseth brought the DEWALT Ford down pit road and the crew took a rubber out of the left rear, made another air pressure adjustment and gave Kenseth four sticker tires. The No. 17 rejoined the field in 14th-place. These adjustments would send the No. 17 too far in the other direction — “incredibly loose” to quote Kenseth.

“Incredibly loose” on lap 80 became “unbelievably loose” by lap 90, according to Kenseth, who had by then slipped back into the 19th position. The fourth caution of the event flew on lap 90 and Kenseth brought his loose racecar down pit road to receive four tires in addition to wedge and air pressure adjustments. Kenseth stalled the car getting out of his pit box, costing valuable time, and restarted the race in 31st-place. Kenseth had managed to work his way back up into the 23rd position when he and the No. 17 team made a risky decision — seeing a competitor with a tire going down and surmising that a caution was imminent, the No. 17 guys elected to go ahead and come down pit road under green, hoping to gain an advantage over the field by beating them down pit road. However, the caution did not come out until some three laps later, which ended up putting Kenseth in 31st place, one lap down.

Shortly after the restart on lap 122, Kenseth made contact with the No. 25, causing some damage to the left front fender of the No. 17. While the damage appeared minor, it would come back to haunt Kenseth later in the day. When the next caution flag slowed the field on lap 146, Kenseth spent a lengthy stop on pit road not only receiving adjustments and new tires, but also having the crew work on the damaged left front fender. Kenseth restarted the race in the 30th position, one lap down, and hoped to gain his lap back during the next caution period.

However, on lap 178, running in 29th-place, Kenseth radioed to the crew that he had a flat tire. Kenseth had to make a green flag stop to change tires and, unbelievably, after rejoining the field for only about seven laps, blew another tire. This time the DEWALT crew changed left side tires only but elected to come down pit road again to work on the left front fender, which the crew suspected was rubbing against the tire. When the seventh caution of the afternoon flew on lap 194, Kenseth came down pit road again for the crew to make sure they had successfully repaired the fender so as not to cause Kenseth any more problems.

Kenseth rejoined the field in the 32nd position, four laps down, for the green-white-checkers finish. The race would end under caution, however, as another caution slowed the field on lap 199. Roush Racing teammate Carl Edwards was victorious, with Kenseth closing out the day in the 32nd position.

“There have been times this year when I just really didn’t know what to say. This is one of them,” said Kenseth of his day in Pocono. “Last week we did okay, getting a top-ten finish. Now here we are again, blowing tires, going down laps and going home with a bad finish. It has just been an up and down season for us so far. All I can say is, I know the guys continue to work hard back in the shop setting up these cars and on race day, they come prepared. We’ll just keep working hard until we get the finishes out of it that we know we’re capable of.”

The No. 17 Carhartt/DEWALT Ford will be running its second race of the season in the copper and black paint scheme of Carhartt next Sunday at the Michigan International Speedway.

Pocono Race Preview
June 7, 2005

Pocono Raceway • Long Pond, Pa.
Pocono 500 • Sunday, June 12 • 1:00 pm/e Fox

 
Matt Kenseth’s Cup Series performance summary at Pocono

Date	S	F	Laps	Reason
06/19/00	29	14	200/200	Running
07/23/00	24	5	200/200	Running
06/17/01	31	6	200/200	Running
07/29/01	24	14	200/200	Running
06/09/02	4	35	161/200	Running
07/28/02	22	8	175/175	Running
06/08/03	25	3	200/200	Running
07/27/03	9	13	200/200	Running
06/13/04	15	21	200/200	Running
08/01/04	15	8	200/200	Running

 
Matt Kenseth Cup Series totals at Pocono

	Races	Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s	Poles
Cumulative	10	0	2	5	0

 
Matt Kenseth on racing at Pocono:

“I’m glad to be going into Pocono with a solid finish under our belts. It has been a tough season for us so far, with some of our cars not running great, and other times just having rotten luck. Our focus is to consistently finish in the top-ten and work our way into the Chase. We’re bringing my favorite car to Pocono to build on the momentum we created at Dover by finishing in the top-ten. It’s really good on flat tracks so I’m looking forward to seeing what it will do this weekend. “

Crew Chief Robbie Reiser on racing at Pocono:

“Our goal at Dover was to finish in the top-ten and we were able to accomplish that. Now, we have to focus on doing the same thing week in and week out to work our way up into the top-ten in points. One thing I can say about our team, no matter what has happened this season, they’ve continued to work hard and remain positive and focused on the task at hand. They executed some awesome pit stops last weekend in Dover and repeatedly gained us positions off of pit road.”

Fast Facts

n In his 10 Cup starts at Pocono, Matt Kenseth has finished in the top-five twice and the top-ten five times.

n Kenseth will be running car number 20 at the Pocono Raceway on Sunday. This car has not seen competition this year, but is one of Matt Kenseth’s favorites. It has prior wins at Las Vegas under its’ belt (2003 and 2004) and was most recently run during a tire test at Indy in April, 2005.

n Matt Kenseth has led laps in half of his starts at Pocono Raceway.